I have had an idea for a Jekyll and Hyde type character
Light character: Aurelyn- a cleric of sun/light. At times of emotional stress or low HP, she gets amensia and her character switches
Dark character: Velryss- necromancer.
I'm not sure whether to multi-class, create two characters separately and how to get the switch to happen naturally in game play. Whether the switch to or from is dictated by a D6 roll, I'm just not sure. Any help would be much appreciated.
This idea will run into some difficulties in practice, and it'll take either a very permissive or a very experienced DM for this sort of thing. I expect that a lot of DM's would outright reject this concept for being difficult or exploitable.
There are many difficult questions to answer. Such as, what happens if you switch when one form has taken damage? A Cleric uses a d8 hit die, a Wizard (Necromancer) uses a d6 hit die, so even if the damage transfers, you'd have to recalculate it. You'd probably have to recalculate, I certainly wouldn't allow a switch from a "low HP" character to a full HP one.
Do they share a spell slot pool? (Hint: Yes. I certainly wouldn't allow one PC to have two PC's worth of spell slots.)
The amnesia is also troublesome, because a difficulty players have - even experienced ones - is compartmentalizing information the player knows from what their character knows. Now you'd have to further complicate that by compartmentalizing what each character knows separately.
Multi-classing would "solve" the HP and spell slots issues, but it would make both characters half as powerful as their expected level, they wouldn't have access to higher level spells for either class.Plus, you'd need good stats in both Wisdom and Intelligence, which leaves less room for CON for HP/Concentration and DEX for AC.
I have had an idea for a Jekyll and Hyde type character
Light character: Aurelyn- a cleric of sun/light. At times of emotional stress or low HP, she gets amensia and her character switches
Dark character: Velryss- necromancer.
I'm not sure whether to multi-class, create two characters separately and how to get the switch to happen naturally in game play. Whether the switch to or from is dictated by a D6 roll, I'm just not sure. Any help would be much appreciated.
The simplest way to do this, and the one you won't have a problem getting past a DM, is to do it via roleplay
Make one (1) character. If you want that character to be a spellcaster, you can choose some spells that only the "Hyde" side of the character will use, if you want to distinguish them beyond their personality -- i.e. the "Jekyll" side mainly uses heals and guiding bolt, but the "Hyde" side will suddenly start busting out inflict wounds.
Determine what circumstances will trigger the switch, either on your own or in collaboration with your DM. You could use something like the Stress Points system Critical Role used for FCG in Campaign 3, where his circuits essentially overloaded and he turned into a homicidal killing machine, if you want an actual mechanic for it, or you could just do it in high-stress moments when the RP makes sense
If you're going to play the character with two completely separate personalities, I'd also recommend discussing it with the rest of the party in session 0, to make sure everyone buys in
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Active characters:
Edoumiaond Willegume "Eddie" Podslee, Vegetanian scholar (College of Spirits bard) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator (Assassin rogue) Peter "the Pied Piper" Hausler, human con artist/remover of vermin (Circle of the Shepherd druid) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I have had an idea for a Jekyll and Hyde type character
Light character: Aurelyn- a cleric of sun/light. At times of emotional stress or low HP, she gets amensia and her character switches
Dark character: Velryss- necromancer.
I'm not sure whether to multi-class, create two characters separately and how to get the switch to happen naturally in game play. Whether the switch to or from is dictated by a D6 roll, I'm just not sure. Any help would be much appreciated.
This idea will run into some difficulties in practice, and it'll take either a very permissive or a very experienced DM for this sort of thing. I expect that a lot of DM's would outright reject this concept for being difficult or exploitable.
There are many difficult questions to answer. Such as, what happens if you switch when one form has taken damage? A Cleric uses a d8 hit die, a Wizard (Necromancer) uses a d6 hit die, so even if the damage transfers, you'd have to recalculate it. You'd probably have to recalculate, I certainly wouldn't allow a switch from a "low HP" character to a full HP one.
Do they share a spell slot pool? (Hint: Yes. I certainly wouldn't allow one PC to have two PC's worth of spell slots.)
The amnesia is also troublesome, because a difficulty players have - even experienced ones - is compartmentalizing information the player knows from what their character knows. Now you'd have to further complicate that by compartmentalizing what each character knows separately.
Multi-classing would "solve" the HP and spell slots issues, but it would make both characters half as powerful as their expected level, they wouldn't have access to higher level spells for either class.Plus, you'd need good stats in both Wisdom and Intelligence, which leaves less room for CON for HP/Concentration and DEX for AC.
The simplest way to do this, and the one you won't have a problem getting past a DM, is to do it via roleplay
Make one (1) character. If you want that character to be a spellcaster, you can choose some spells that only the "Hyde" side of the character will use, if you want to distinguish them beyond their personality -- i.e. the "Jekyll" side mainly uses heals and guiding bolt, but the "Hyde" side will suddenly start busting out inflict wounds.
Determine what circumstances will trigger the switch, either on your own or in collaboration with your DM. You could use something like the Stress Points system Critical Role used for FCG in Campaign 3, where his circuits essentially overloaded and he turned into a homicidal killing machine, if you want an actual mechanic for it, or you could just do it in high-stress moments when the RP makes sense
If you're going to play the character with two completely separate personalities, I'd also recommend discussing it with the rest of the party in session 0, to make sure everyone buys in
Active characters:
Edoumiaond Willegume "Eddie" Podslee, Vegetanian scholar (College of Spirits bard)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator (Assassin rogue)
Peter "the Pied Piper" Hausler, human con artist/remover of vermin (Circle of the Shepherd druid)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
If you get permission, and you work with your DM for mechanics, this sounds like a very interesting, if not particularly original, concept.